Building a Bug Out Bag During the COVID-19 Pandemic with Downloadable Checklist

The COVID-19 global pandemic has crashed economies, caused national lockdowns, and left many people feeling totally unprepared. Emergency situations such as this tend to cause mass panic, leaving the majority of people under prepared and stressed. Today we're going to introduce you to something that can help alleviate that stressed feeling by helping you to feel better prepared for any situation that comes your way. This item that helps you feel prepared is called a bug out bag.

What is a bug out bag what does bugging out mean?

The term "bugging out" refers to you leaving your home because it is no longer safe in an emergency situation. Some situations, such as a fire or a devastating earthquake, may require you to leave your home. Other situations, such as this pandemic, may require that you actually STAY home. Regardless of the situation, it's important to prepare a bag so that you can be ready no matter what kind of emergency hits. There are several benefits to already having a prepared bag:

1. When you start to panic, you can rest easy knowing you have everything you could need.
2. If something drastic happened and you need to leave your house immediately you could grab your bag and go.
3. You can pack the bag with things designed specifically for you, instead of depending on a pre-made bug-out bag that may not have exactly what you need.

For example, my husband is a type 1 diabetic and in our bug out bag we have a solar charger to charge his insulin pump. We also have a supply of glucose tablets to bring his blood sugars up if he goes low and some snacks that are low-glycemic so they won't affect his blood sugars too much.

It's important to note that bug out bags should vary based on the emergency you're responding to. If it's an earthquake and your home is unusable, you'll probably want to add some good quality shoes for hiking out to a safe place. If the emergency is a virus you'll want to make sure you have at least an N95 air filtration mask to keep you safe as well as a good supply of latex gloves. Keeping a basic bug out bag on hand is recommended, but feel free to add to it based on emergency situations specific to your demographic. Or, even better, have different bags for different emergencies. Then, if something was to happen, you'd have even more basic supplies even if they weren't specifically set aside for that particular emergency. My husband and I recently updated our bug-out bags to include N95 masks and latex gloves. We included vitamins to help keep us healthy such as Vitamin C and D. We also added copious amounts of hand sanitizer and soap to help keep us clean. Another thought we had was to add pepper spray to encourage people or animals to keep their distance. This would be the first line of defense without escalating the situation with a firearm.

You can purchase pre-made bug out bags that are created with a wide variety of survival gear or you can make your own. You would be surprised how much survival gear you already have laying around the house, which is why we advocate making your own! You'll need to start with a high quality and durable backpack. The Velox Quick Action Backpack is one of our favorites. It is robust enough for a few days and won't be too heavy even when fully loaded. There is also the Paratus 3-Day Backpack. This is a large, multi-day backpack and is one of the most popular choices with survivalists. After that, just check out this downloadable PDF bug out bag checklist to help you prepare your own bug out bag. You don't have to include everything on the checklist and perhaps you'll think of some things you need that aren't on our list. Just use the checklist as a starting point and determine your own situation and needs to build what is important to you and your family. Hopefully this helps to alleviate some of your stress and helps you get more prepared for any emergency situation that may arise. Feel free to share your comments below on how you are building your bug out bag.  

There are a lot of really good resources out there and our friends over at Bug Out Builder have created a great interactive tool that helps you build your bag based on the your needs. They have everything from a 12-hour EveryDay Carry Bag to a 72+ hour Bug Out Bag. They even have an Overboard Bag Builder for those of you on the water.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anne is the Marketing Outreach Coordinator at 3V Gear and ardently loves dogs of all kinds (except Chihuahua's). If she isn't at work you can find her at school or reading the latest political thriller. She loves traveling and experiencing new adventures with her husband and has a goal to visit all seven continents. Anne is currently studying International Affairs and Global Studies at Brigham Young University.